


An In-Between

by Luz



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/F, Fluff, Girl Adam, Girl Ronan, Rule 63, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 07:31:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8319205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luz/pseuds/Luz
Summary: A re-interpretation of chapter 15 of BLLB - you know, the one that starts with nightmare creatures and ends with hand lotion? Except with more lesbians, greenhouses, and all night diners.





	

On the pane of glass in front of her workbench, Ada Parrish’s breath had melted a tiny window in the frost. Through it she could see the snow tumbling down from the sky and piling in banks against the walls of the greenhouse. An hour ago the drifts had sparkled in the last rays of sun but now twilight had fallen and the only light came from the bare lightbulb dangling above her. The occasional crackle of its filament and the scrape of Ada’s trowel were the only sounds that punctuated the absolute silence.

 

Normally she liked this kind of solitary contemplative work but she’d been at the greenhouse for almost three hours now. Earlier in the evening it had still been warm enough inside that she hadn’t needed her coat. Now Ada was huddled in on herself wrapped in every piece of clothing she’d brought and still suppressing the occasional shiver. Her bare fingers were numb and clumsy around the trowel’s wooden handle. She knew she should stop for the evening and come back the next day but if she didn’t get the rest of the radish plants into bigger pots they stood a good chance of freezing overnight.

 

She paused her work to stand up and flex her hands. Casting a rueful glance at the empty travel mug at her feet, she started pacing along the aisle of the greenhouse, hoping to get her blood circulating. The familiar beds of winter vegetables were covered with heavy vinyl tarps for the night, rendering them formless and inorganic in the darkness.

 

_Creeeeeak._

 

Ada froze at the unmistakable sound of the squeaky backdoor of the greenhouse swinging open. It was way too late for her boss to be coming around. Carefully so as not to make a noise she picked up her trowel and approached the edge of the circle of light thrown by the single bulb. Despite the cold, nervous sweat pricked uncomfortably under her shirt. 

 

A tall form barely discernible in the darkness crashed around the corner and straight into a stand of rakes. “Fucking _shit_ ,” it swore.

 

Ada let out a long, shaking sigh. “Jesus, Rosie.”

 

“God damn, Parrish, what the hell is there to do in a greenhouse at the ass end of November?” Rosie said as she emerged from the darkness, gazing around in disgust. Her eyes landed on Ada’s makeshift weapon. “What do you have that for?”

 

“You _scared_ me,” Ada mumbled, but Rosie was busy peeking under the tarp over the brussels sprouts. “Don’t let the cold air in there!”

 

“Okay, jeez.” Rosie dropped the covering and straightened up. “Aren’t you cold as shit?”

 

Ada shrugged. “Yeah. But I have to get this done.”

 

Rosie grinned. “You don’t _have_ to do anything. We could go get waffles right now and nothing would be stopping you.”

 

Ada closed her eyes. They’d had some form of this conversation about eight hundred times.

 

“Hot coffee, too. Come on, Parrish.”

 

Ada frowned and didn’t open her eyes. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t want to eat breakfast food with Rosie Lynch at nine at night. There was a note of a thrill to it too, the subtle edge of a dare in Rosie’s tone. Ada wanted to take the dare very badly.

 

“After I get this done,” she said finally. “And I need to go home right after to do homework.”

 

Rosie snorted and rolled her eyes, but sprawled over the pile of bagged potting soil against the wall to wait. Ada could feel her eyes on her as she worked. She had to stop herself from glancing over, knowing she would find Rosie’s eyes hooded and intense on her as she ran a hand idly over her shorn head.

 

“Where’s your bird?” she asked finally to break the silence.

 

“Car. She gets cold.”

 

“Tell me you didn’t leave your car running for a raven.”

 

Rosie shrugged. “How the fuck was I supposed to know you were gonna drag so much ass getting out of here?”

 

Ada felt a twinge of annoyance. “I’m not dragging ass. This isn’t something I can just rush through.”

 

“I know, I know. You like plants better than people.”

 

“ _Some_ people make that easy,” Ada shot back acidly.

 

“Well, shit, if you’re gonna be like this I’ll go get waffles on my own.”

 

“Sorry,” Ada muttered. “It’s too cold to be nice.”

 

Rosie got up from the pile of sacks, which had managed to give the impression of a throne while she was atop them. Wordlessly she approached the table and took Ada’s icy hands in her own. The gesture took Ada by surprise and her breath caught halfway up her throat. 

 

“You’re gonna get fucking frostbite,” Rosie murmured. She was close enough that Ada felt her warm breath against her cheek. Her hands were hot on Ada’s as they lifted them from the pots and squeezed gently. 

 

Ada was grateful that her cheeks were already flushed from the cold and the tips of her ears were hidden beneath her knit hat. Their friendship, she knew, was dancing on a border. _Between autumn and winter. Between this…and something else._ She swallowed once. “You’re not making this go any faster,” she said. 

 

“If your fingers are warmer you’ll work faster,” Rosie replied. She rubbed them in silence for a couple of minutes. Though she wore only her leather jacket, she radiated heat and it was all Ada could do not to lean further into her. “Okay,” Rosie said finally. “Do your shit.”

 

Ada hurried through the rest of her work, but not enough that Rosie would notice. The interior BMW was warm enough to relax all of Ada’s joints that had stiffened with the cold. By the time they pulled into the diner parking lot she felt practically boneless in the passenger seat. Her fingers and palms still glowed with the feeling of Rosie’s hands kneading them.

 

It was even warmer in the diner, which was the sort of establishment that had put up Christmas lights halfway through November. They sat in a booth and made faces across the table at each other over the menu. Rosie ordered hot chocolate “with _triple_ whipped cream, thanks,” and it left a mustache of foam on her upper lip that made Ada giggle despite herself.

 

She let Rosie distract her into staying longer than she should have, but the prospect of going back to her quiet cold apartment was bleak compared to the vitality of the diner with its lights and pleasant waitress who didn’t mind refilling Ada’s coffee mug every half hour and most of all Rosie, who made time melt away and smiles come ever more easily to Ada’s mouth.

 

When Rosie finally drove her home Ada began pulling her textbooks out of her backpack and paused when her hand brushed something unfamiliar. Peering into the bag, she pulled out a pair of the softest gloves she had ever felt. They were the same muted green color of a budding plant. She knew Rosie was responsible, but she had no idea when they’d been slipped into her backpack.

 

As she pulled them a scrap of paper fluttered out of one. Rosie’s handwriting was scrawled hastily across it: _Didn’t pay anything for these, so shut up._

 

Ada smiled. Despite the utter impossibility of anyone else’s presence in her tiny apartment she glanced furtively around before pressing the gloves to her nose, breathing in the same distinctive scent of Rosie’s car and jacket.

 

Her dreams that night were of warmth and light.

**Author's Note:**

> damn I'm such a sap...anyway...this was my first time writing anything F/F for trc so let me know what you thought? thanks for reading!! also, please feel free to follow my trc blog at ronanreagan.tumblr.com and talk to me about all your trc feels.


End file.
